19 March 2013 - South
Africa has offered to host the 17th Conference
of Parties of the Convention on the International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora (CITES COP17) in 2016.
South Africa believes
the time has come for the CITES COP to be
held on South African soil. As the third
most mega-biodiverse country in the world,
South Africa is always ready to take any
leadership role in the conservation of biodiversity
at all levels by working with different
partners at national, regional and global
levels. This is one of the reasons why,
at this crucial time when the Convention
is faced with complex trade, livelihoods
and conservation issues, South Africa is
ready to host the meeting in 2016.
The proposal to host
the next CITES Conference of Parties in
South Africa was accepted by all delegates
at the closing ceremony for the 16th COP
in Bangkok, Thailand, last week.
More than 2 000 delegates
from 178 countries, non-governmental organisations
and civil society attended the 16th COP,
celebrating the 40th anniversary of CITES
and deliberating on matters relating to
the effective implementation of the Convention,
including the amendment of the Appendices
containing the species regulated in terms
of the Convention. The 16th COP was characterised
by dynamic debate on issues related to the
conservation and protection of plant and
animal species for future generations.
Over the two weeks,
delegates robustly debated and decided how
to improve the world’s wildlife trade regime,
taking stock of progress made in ensuring
survival of endangered species such as the
leopard, rhino, cheetah, elephant, timber
species and hoodia. Representatives also
decided on which species were to be down-listed
or up-listed on the CITES Appendices, determining
which species may or may not be traded under
strict international controls. Listing of
sharks species to appendix II took a lot
of time for delegates and the discussion
was reopened twice.
While South Africa garnered
a fair share of attention through the hosting
of a series of side events directed at starting
an international debate about whether rhino
horn should be traded legally, under strictly-controlled
CITES conditions, or not, a number of decisions
were taken by Parties on species directly
affecting South Africa.
The document relating
to the management of “harvest for export
quotas” for leopard was adopted by consensus.
The document was developed by South Africa
through collaboration with various SADC
member states and the United States and
addresses the challenges experienced in
terms of the export and re-export of leopard
trophies. This related directly to the proper
labelling of leopard trophies, hunted in
South Africa, and exported to the United
States. A decision was adopted to enable
the relevant Parties to report on difficulties
experienced in terms of the implementation
of the changes adopted and to determine
whether the same process can be used for
other species.
As many South Africans
know, Hoodia is a plant that is widely used
in weight loss and appetite suppressant
products and was listed in CITES Appendix
II in 2004 with an unusual annotation that
was designed to promote sustainable use
by local communities and value addition
in Namibia, South Africa and Botswana. The
original wording was ambiguous and the proposal
adopted by CoP16 was to clarify the purpose
of the annotation. The rewording of the
labels clarifies bioprospecting rights agreements
that benefit local communities. South Africa
is one of the leading countries in the bioprospecting
issues and it has recently been acceded
to the Nagoya Protocol on fair and equitable
access to benefits on genetic resources.
A proposal from Kenya
and Tanzania to list East African sandalwood
in CITES Appendix II was adopted. This species
occurs more widely in Africa, including
in South Africa, where they are not yet
under threat from overharvesting. The proposal
was amended to include only the populations
in East Africa, which means sandalwood occurring
in this region will in future be subject
to regulation through CITES. South Africa
will, however, participate in a CITES process
to review the status and trade in sandalwood
to make sure that our population does not
experience increased harvesting as a result
of shifts in trade, thus threatening the
survival of the species.
Kenya had initially
put forward a proposal to place a zero export
quota on hunting trophies from South Africa
and Swaziland until CoP18. Subsequent to
deliberations in the margins of the meeting,
Kenya withdrew the proposal. Concerns relating
to increased enforcement, compliance monitoring,
reporting and the restriction of re-export
of hunting trophies were addressed through
provisions in other documents discussed
at the meeting, including the exclusion
of rhino horn from the exemption provisions
applicable to personal and household effects;
this means that a person will not be able
to move rhino horn as part of his/her personal
belongings between countries and that permits
will be required. South Africa should be
commended by initiating discussions with
Kenya towards the completion of an MOU between
the 2 countries.
The Conference of Parties
looked at the Security report of the Secretariat
on Rhino, from various groups, with specific
focus on the Use of Rhino products by Asian
countries. A Working Group consisting of
range, transit and consumer states, as categorised
in the TRAFFIC report, was constituted and
developed a decision focusing on strengthening
enforcement and enhancing Rhino safety.
The decision emphasises two major aspects
of enforcement, demand reduction and legislation
strengthening and harmonisation.
The decision also notes
the responsibility on consumer countries,
to develop and implement a demand reduction
strategy that is aimed at reducing the demand
for Rhino products that is a driver illegal
killing of rhinos
South Africa as a range
state is hoping to see more commitment from
both consumer and transit states by developing
programmes to create awareness, law enforcement,
technology development, and information
exchange on stopping rhino poaching. The
decision will continue to serve as a guide
to South Africa, in improving relations
through intended MOUs with several affected
countries like Thailand, Laos, Cambodia
and China
Togo, Mali, Burkina
Faso and Kenya withdrew their proposal to
amend the annotation to the Appendix II
listing of the African elephant populations
of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe
to include all range States in the restrictions
applicable to the four countries relating
to ivory trade. The Parties had wanted to
ensure the restrictions applied to the Southern
African states would apply to all African
elephant range States. As part of a compromise
position reached at CoP14 in 2007, Botswana,
Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe agreed
to a nine year moratorium (that took effect
from the date of the once-off ivory sales)
provided a decision making mechanism for
trade in ivory was developed and adopted
at CoP16. Unfortunately this decision-making
mechanism could not be finalised for consideration
at CoP16, but an action plan with clear
timeframes was adopted to ensure a mechanism
would be finalised for consideration by
CoP17 in South Africa.
In addition, various
decisions were adopted to address important
matters emanating from the reports presented
on the Monitoring of Illegal Killing of
Elephants (MIKE) programmes as well as the
Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS).
Among these was that
the CITES Secretariat shall, subject to
external funding, convene a CITES Ivory
Enforcement Task Force, consisting of representatives
from China (including Hong Kong Self Administration
Region), Kenya, Malaysia, the Philippines,
South Africa, Thailand, Uganda, the United
Republic of Tanzania and Vietnam, in cooperation
with International Consortium on Combating
Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) partner organisations
and, as appropriate, other Parties and experts,
to:
review existing strategies
and develop new approaches to combat illegal
trade in ivory;
propose measures to African and Asian enforcement
authorities to promote long-term collaboration
between them, for example through exchange
programmes or the secondment of law enforcement
officers from destination or transit countries
to source countries and vice versa;
examine and advise about
existing DNA-based and forensic identification
techniques for sourcing and ageing ivory,
identify relevant forensic facilities and
research institutions, and consider the
need for further research in these areas;
develop, in cooperation
with the World Bank and other ICCWC partners,
an anti-money-laundering and asset recovery
manual with a specific focus on wildlife
crime, that can be used for the training
of investigators, prosecutors and judges.
The Secretariat shall, subject to external
funding contact each Party identified in
the ETIS report of TRAFFIC as being of ‘secondary
concern’ (Cameroon, China, the Congo, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt,
Ethiopia, Gabon, Mozambique, Nigeria and
Uganda) and each country identified in the
same document as being of‘importance to
watch’ (Angola, Cambodia, Japan, Laos People’s
Democratic Republic. Qatar and United Arab
Emirates) to seek clarification on their
implementation of CITES and other provisions
concerning control of trade in elephant
ivory and ivory markets, and report its
findings and recommendations at the 65th
meeting of the Standing Committee.
In terms of compliance
and law enforcement, a decision was adopted
that the Secretary-General of CITES would
write to the President of the United Nations
Security Council and the Secretariat General
of the United Nations to convey the concerns
of the Parties to CITES about:
a) the levels of illegal
killing of elephants in Africa and the related
illegal trade in elephant ivory;
b) the national security
implications for certain countries in Africa
of this illegal killing and trade; and
c) request that these
concerns be brought to the attention of
the United Nations General Assembly and
the Security Council;
It was also decided
that CITES Secretary-General, Mr John Scanlon,
will consult with the Executive Director
of the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime (UNODC) to further explore the most
appropriate way to draw these concerns to
the attention of the UN Security Council
and UN General Assembly.
In addition, CITES Parties
involved in large-scale ivory seizures –
a seizure of 500kg or more – is in future
expected to collect and submit samples from
the ivory seized to an appropriate forensic
analysis facility within 90 days of the
seizure to determine the origin of the ivory
samples with the aim of addressing the entire
crime chain. South Africa welcomed these
decisions.
Amendments to the Resolution
relating to the trade in elephant specimens
were adopted and South Africa is of the
view that the amendment that now requires
more countries to take national measures
to address illegal activities involving
ivory and other elephant specimens will
assist in addressing concerns related to
these crimes.
With regard to cheetah,
a decision was adopted to undertake an independent
study of both the legal and illegal trade
in wild cheetah, and the impacts of this
trade on the conservation of these animals.
The study will investigate the sources of
cheetahs in illegal trade, transit routes
of trafficked cheetahs and document measures
taken with regard to confiscated live specimens.
South Africa supported the adoption of the
decision.
But, it was not only
decisions related to the conservation of
species that were taken. CITES members also
decided on future procedural matters. This
included the decision that countries will
be permitted to continue requesting a secret
ballot on controversial issues, such as
elephant ivory trade or the international
trade of critically endangered species such
as tiger, following a proposal for full
openness in voting in future.
The South African delegation
played an instrumental role in ensuring
that CITES’ Rules of Procedure could in
future only be amended through a two-thirds
majority vote. In the spirit of constructiveness
and cooperation, South Africa had chaired
the Working Group on the Rules of Procedure
in the hope of reaching consensus on the
proposals to amend the rules that guide
decision-making and the procedures followed
to amend the rules.
South Africa was successful
in ensuring that amendments of the rules
be considered as a substantive amendment,
thus resulting in the future requirement
of a two-thirds majority and not a simple
majority vote when deciding on important
conservation issues. It was as a result
of this decision that a motion brought to
amend the procedure for voting by secret
ballot, especially on controversial issues,
did not pass.
A decision was taken
by the Parties that CITES-related projects
eligible for Global Environment Facility
funding be identified by member states and
prioritised within their National Biodiversity
Action Plans. That would include issues
covered by the African Elephant Action Plan.
The message the South
African delegation had brought to CITES,
as one of the organisation’s founding members,
was supported by the government’s policy
of sustainable utilisation of natural resources
as a biodiversity conservation tool. It
is because of adaptive management and sustainable
utilisation practices that South Africa
has developed and maintained a proud conservation
record, and communities have contributed
to the Conservation of species while benefiting
financially from the restoration and protection
of species.
One of these is the
Tyhefu Traditional Authority Community in
the Eastern Cape, which has been able to
send children to school, provide food and
clothes to community members and upgrade
general living conditions through the harvesting
of Aloe Ferox and the provision of crystalised
sap to local and international markets for
creams and medicines.
Mr Mangwanandile Mjoli
of the Msutu royal family, representing
the Tyhefu community of Peddie, told delegates
at a side event on the roles communities
play in conservation while benefiting from
the species, that predominantly women and
youth with a low level of education harvest
aloe leaves on the 50 000ha being utilised.
Besides the educational
and financial benefits to the community,
unemployment and crime levels have decreased,
the community is moving out of extreme poverty
as it is now able to not only buy clothes
and pay for housing, but also school fees
for the children. In addition, traditional
knowledge of the medicinal purposes of the
aloe is being utilised.
The future of the project
includes the development of a business plan
for the Tyhefu Traditional Council Aloe
Project, the establishment of technical
capacity in equipment and skills for processing,
gaining greater market access and establishing
new market partners, appointing environmental
monitors to ensure the project remained
viable and the species being harvested continued
to expand and establishing cultivation sites
for sustained supply chain. It is through
projects like these that it becomes clear
that without conservation of a species,
communities living with it will not benefit,
or survive. Our rural economy will remain
stagnant and South Africa’s Bioprospecting
initiatives will not be as successful as
they are today.
A resolution was adopted
at the COP that addressed matters relating
to livelihoods. This means that the listing
of certain species in the Appendices can
impact on the livelihoods of poor rural
communities. The resolution provides guidance
through the creation of a toolkit in terms
of which importing and exporting nations
are required to assess the impacts of their
actions on poor rural communities and the
species being utilised. It also provides
for measures that can be introduced to address
any possible consequences of trade decisions,
including aid.
